


Josie's Night

by StarDrifter759



Series: Darkside [3]
Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Josie's bar, Talk with Foggy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 13:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13366005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarDrifter759/pseuds/StarDrifter759
Summary: All Karen wanted was to drink the Scotch Ellison had got her and pass out on her couch. But after seeing her name connected with the morning's hotel bombing and attack on Senator Ori, Foggy was quite insistent on one of their 'Josie's Nights'Fine.





	Josie's Night

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote the previous installment (World Turns To Grey) while mostly asleep, and posted it without review or edit... and I'm kinda afraid to read it. 
> 
> And just out of curiosity, how obvious is it that I'm actively avoiding real life work that in fact must get done? And sooner rather than later? Terribly obvious? Yeah... I figured.

Putrid air swirled across Karen’s ankles and caused loose hair to dance about her face as she pushed into Josie’s. The cheerful bell drowned out by the din of patrons as she stepped inside and scanned the unusually large crowd for Foggy. Josie seemed irritated by the excess of today’s work – no doubt the residents of Hell’s Kitchen had been stirred by the Punisher’s apparent resurrection and were drinking their fears away. She didn’t even try to stop the eye roll that thought elicited. Drained from the emotional rollercoaster that had been her goddamn day (week, month, year), Karen’s tolerance and temper were on the fritz and not looking to make a comeback anytime soon. 

Finally spotting Foggy at the bar Karen marched over and brusquely ordered her usual. Catching the bottle that glided across the wood in response, she finally managed a smile for Foggy’s sake. It was shaky, and didn’t reach her eyes, but it was a smile nonetheless. 

He jumped right into the headline topic with a blithe, “So it sounds like you had a really shitty morning.” 

Propriety demanded that she nod, so she did, but Karen couldn’t really agree with that assessment. Parts of it had been awful, certainly, but she couldn’t disavow those few precious seconds of peace and belonging she’d shared with Frank by broadly agreeing with that statement. It may have been the only island of tranquility in her day, but it was real and valid, the epiphanies born stalwart against the chaos that followed. “There have been better.” She opted with in lieu of an outright accord. If it was good enough for Madani then it was good enough for Foggy, at least for today. 

“He took you again, didn’t he?” Foggy couldn’t meet her eyes as he said it, instead choosing to focus on the beer in his hands, expression fearful and earnest. 

Karen sighed and glanced over her shoulder, hoping a pool table would open up and give her an acceptable outlet for her mounting frustration. She kept her voice low and firm as she responded. “Don’t get me started on the obscene levels of _bullshit_ involved in that story.” 

“Karen…” His eyebrows had furrowed into a sharp ‘V’ worry clearly painted there. She knew what that look meant. He thought her memory had been mired by the need to survive, a mild case of Stockholm Syndrome or something. 

And that did it for the reigns on her temper. 

“Oh my God, Foggy. Frank was only there to save my life. He has nothing to do with the bombings.” She kept her voice quiet despite its intensity; acutely aware of how many people could potentially overhear their conversation. 

“But, Karen-“ He tried again. 

“No.” He was not getting a word in edgewise. She wouldn’t have it. Not today. 

“Lets see. There was when Wilson shot at me, which was the… “ Karen pauses briefly, double checking her count. “Second time Frank has put his body between bullets, and mine, by the way.” 

She nailed Foggy with a pointed stare, refusing to be cowed. “Then from there the ‘plan’ was for us to just run out of the room while Frank handled Wilson but then _Ori_ ,” She scoffed, derision practically dripping from her voice, “Decided to be a _hero_ and shoved me _into_ Wilson.” 

“Wait, wha-“ By now his usually intelligent eyes were round and glazed with shock. 

Karen showed no mercy, rolling right over him. “Oh and by ‘hero’ I actually meant yellow-bellied coward.” She clenched her jaw, pent-up frustration and defensive anger at how people just lay blame on Frank and run with it practically emitting from her pores. 

“And that really complicated things because Wilson had strapped himself with a bomb. Oh yeah.” She said as Foggy’s eyes managed to widen further. He was starting to look like a _Disney®_ character. 

“Complete with a dead man’s switch so that Frank – who had apparently already prevented one bombing – couldn’t just shoot him and be done with it because if he did, I’d die too.” She paused again; sighing deeply and taking a long pull from her beer. 

“Jesus Karen.” Foggy breathed emphatically, shaking his head as though to dispel the truth of her words. 

She nodded, eyes unfocused as she fiddled with her half empty beer bottle, anger draining from her system at an alarming rate, leaving her feeling shattered and hollow again. 

“How did…?” He swallowed, struggled to meet her eyes. 

She gave a soft humorless chuckle. “Frank.” 

An equally soft, sad smile graced her lips. “He had to, uhh, talk me through how to defuse it; I guess is how you say it. But Wilson couldn’t know, right, or he’d…” She trailed off, fortifying herself with the rest of her beer. 

“So Frank talked and kept his attention while guiding me to the right wire to pull. I couldn’t see them so I’d feel one out and hold it so Frank could see and he’d shake his head then nod when I found the right one.” Now Foggy’s eyes were rapt on hers as she continued. “White. I pulled it, got away from him, then Wilson locked himself in the fridge so Frank couldn’t get to him and blew himself to smithereens.” She sighed deeply, signaling Josie for round two. 

“You’re okay, right? I mean a doctor has checked you, no internal bleeding or concussion, or anything like that?” Concern flooded his voice and pooled in his eyes and Karen felt a rush of gratitude and affection. No mere mortal could deserve a friend like Foggy. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Frank got the worst of it.” Now she was peeling the damp label from her empty bottle. Old habit. Something of a nervous tick actually. She didn’t always do it. 

“Fuck.” His voice was low and ardent. 

“Yeah,” she chuckled with more humor before checking the pool area again and making a happy sound around her fresh bottle and hitting Foggy on the arm. 

“Table opened up, come on, let’s play.”

**Author's Note:**

> Pleeeaaase comment and let me know what you think of _Darkside_ so far.


End file.
